News from the AOA's Blog

By Barry Barresi, O.D., Ph.D., AOA executive director

In reflecting on our staff appreciation breakfast held last week, I am struck by how I did not understand until now the full story of the dedication and loyalty of the AOA staff during my many years in the volunteer structure.

Sure, in my volunteer committee work in Clinical Care, the Journal and Federal Relations I saw firsthand the tremendous contribution of staff assigned to those specific areas. But I did not see the big picture of how all the parts of the AOA knit together to create this blanket of support for our AOA members.

Now in retrospect after my first full year as AOA executive director, a year that brought many changes to our operations, business structure and staffing models, I have a clearer view of the AOA’s most important asset to serve members – the dedicated staff in the St Louis and Washington offices of the AOA.

With the AOA Board’s visionary leadership mapping our organizational purpose and destination, it is the staff working closely with volunteer committees that has to deliver the value to members.

Last week we celebrated the talent and recognized the achievement of key staff who made a difference, had a positive attitude and who embraced new challenges as we made major changes in the organization.

While many staff achieved a high level of service, we singled out six AOA All Stars who made major contributions to the AOA’s growth while exhibiting personal growth and professional advancement as valued team members.

Years ago as I transitioned from clinical practice to clinical teaching and administration, I found out that taking care of patients in a teaching clinical setting provided the additional thrill of a rewarding feeling of mentoring, of seeing a student doctor grow right before your eyes.

Now at the AOA I find that here too we have some great personal stories of individual growth and advancement. What a great win-win. Hard-working staff that improves service to members while developing new skills as people and valued employees.

Please join me in congratulating our AOA 2009 All-Star team of Matt Willette from the Washington office, Sara Breed from Optometry’s Charity™, Jeanie Pancer from the Human Resources department, Laura Teasdale from the Meetings department, Kathleen Hayes from the Finance department, and Bob Foster from the Communications team.

To keep us on the right track in our team-building, let us know how we can better serve you. Member feedback (e-mail editor@aoa.org) will help us fine-tune, improve the value of membership and guide us in selecting next year’s AOA All-Star team.